Geography This Week: Ireland

We decided to study one country all week this week, and I let the Bibliophile pick.  He chose Ireland.  I didn't really want to do St. Patrick's Day type crafts (rainbows and leprechauns and green things), although he has been on a huge rainbow-drawing kick lately, so we have done plenty of those anyway.  We came up with a fun assortment of activities:

We started out by making a simple Irish flag.  He colored the flag green, white, and orange where I had labeled it, and then I cut it out and we glued it to a popsicle craft stick together.

The next day, using a flashcard from our landmarks set, I told him about Blarney Castle and the story of the Blarney Stone.  I printed a simple handout for him that explained:

Blarney Stone Craft
Blarney Castle has a Blarney Stone.  People from all over the world go to see the Blarney Stone.  And when they see it, they kiss it!  People think that if they kiss the stone, it will give them “the gift of gab.”  This means that it will make them talk very well (and a lot!). 

Make your own Blarney Stone!

Find a rock outside.  Wash it off.  Write “My Blarney Stone” on it.  Kiss the rock.  Practice the “gift of gab!”

We found a rock together and created our Blarney Stone.  Then we took turns kissing it and pretending to have the "gift of gab."  This was a lot of fun.  It started out with him just saying nonsense words very quickly, but then he got the hang of it, and most often said, "IkissedtheBlarneyStoneandnowIcantalkverywell!" at lightening speed.

We read a great book about a sheep farmer called Charlie Needs a New Cloak.  It is especially wonderful for anyone with an interest in spinning wool or fiber arts (and if your name happens to be Charlie AND you like spinning wool AND you are related to the Bibliophile, well, just keep checking your mailbox).  The story follows along with Charlie as he makes himself a new cloak, from shearing the sheep to washing the wool, spinning it into yarn, dying the yarn with berries he picks, making cloth using a loom, and cutting and sewing the final garment.  It doesn't technically say that the story is set in Ireland, but it is about a sheep farmer, and certainly looks like it could be Ireland.  We read the book and talked about how Ireland has a lot of sheep, just like Daddy's home country of New Zealand.  (We probably would have done a sheep craft, but we did one recently).

We also made sure to hunt down Ireland's landscaped plot and flag when we went to visit a local Peace Garden recently.

And we made Bangers and Mash for lunch one day (with Applegate Farms chicken apple sausage).  I was thrilled that he ate it, because new foods are ALWAYS a challenge.  Bangers and mash is a bit more British than Irish I suspect, but I think they eat their share in Ireland too.

And of course we took the time to find Ireland on his Hugg-a-Planet and Europe Geopuzzle.  Maybe tomorrow we'll squeeze in some Irish music.

Next week the Bibliophile has chosen: Iceland!  It didn't sound like the easiest choice to plan for when he first announced it, but I have thought of a few fun ideas, so we'll see how it goes.

I am linking this post up with  stART at A Mommy's Adventures and the Geography/History linkup at Children Grow, Children Learn, Children Explore.

Comment: Have you done any geography-related fun activities this week?  Have any Irish crafts you particularly liked and would like to recommend for the brief remainder of our week?  How about Iceland?  (I'm thinking viking helmet, volcanic activity of some kind, and something with a nonfiction book I found at the library.  I think I have even found some Icelandic foods that will work with his allergies).

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